Presence of Mind by Awestruck
by MeetTheMateContest
Summary: Edward was out of his mind when Bella met him. Can she help him find it in time?


**Title:** Presence of Mind

 **Summary:** Edward was out of his mind when Bella met him. Can she help him find it in time?

 **Pairing:** Edward and Bella

 **Rating:** T (very mild language)

 **Word count:** 3721

* * *

 **Presence of Mind**

I noticed him right away, of course. My god, you'd have to have been blind and deaf not to have noticed him. It took three of them to drag him in the door, twitching and resistant, an almost feral wildness in the way his eyes darted around the room. But, oh, he was beautiful; my eyes skittered over his face, unable to take him in all at once. I consumed him in small pieces, from his sharply angled jaw, large, widely spaced green eyes – fringed with ridiculously long, dark lashes – to his bold eye brows, full, perfect lips and cleft chin. The slight bump on his aristocratic nose kept him from being _too_ perfect.

"Rose," I whispered to the intake processor, with whom I'd been chatting while on my break, "who's that, and who gets him?"

She snickered, glancing up from her keyboard, back down, and then quickly back up again, doing an actual double-take. Her jaw dropped slightly on the second go 'round. See? I'm not shallow, even Rose was stunned by his good looks. "Wow!" was all she said, but that was something, coming from the woman married to Emmett McCarty, who, up until now, was the best looking man I'd ever seen.

We were both rude in our stares, although I doubt he took any note, it was plain to see that whatever meds they had him on were fogging his brain and limiting his grasp on reality.

"What'll you give me to put him in one of your rooms?" Rose asked, still staring.

"What do you want?" I asked, also still staring.

"Hmm..."

"Wait a minute!" I said, still staring, but coming to my senses enough to realize I was being played. "I'm the only one that _has_ an open room!"

She sighed, conceding the point, and then her smirk returned. "True, though I could switch you out with one of Mike's patients. He'd love this guy!"

"No! Give him to me and we'll come to some accommodation, later. Please!" I begged.

"Oh, alright. I'll let you know what you owe me." She cocked an elegant eyebrow at me and warned, "Expect expensive!" I just nodded, still staring.

By now, Jacob and Seth had the young man maneuvered through the lobby and down the hall, while Sam handed his paperwork to Rose. I jumped up to go behind her, reading over her shoulder as she entered his information.

Sam gave us both the eye, licking his lips, as he plopped down in the chair I had just vacated across from her desk.

"Ladies," he said. From the corner of my eye I noted that he was preening, trying to get my attention, but he was fighting a losing battle. I only had eyes for the clipboard in Rose's hands, which contained my version of the holy grail, all there would be to know about the gorgeous creature currently being installed in my block of rooms.

Edward. His name was Edward.

* * *

An hour later I found myself standing over his prone form. They had strapped him down to the bed, and they must have given him more medication, because he wasn't moving; the only sign of life was the slight rise and fall of his chest as he breathed.

I glanced over his lean length and realized his body was a perfect match to his face, and every time I looked at him I felt a shock to my system. "Get a hold of yourself, you idiot," I scolded internally, and turned my attention to the chart hanging from the end of the bed.

My brow furrowed as I read it. He was being given two anti-psychotics, and two anti-depressants, all low doses, but no wonder he was so spacey and twitchy. I had never heard of these drugs being used in combination, and I couldn't imagine it being a good idea.

The prescribing doctor was not someone with whom I was familiar, Dr. Jessica Stanley. "Hmm," I mused, "she must be really old or gay, because no young, straight woman could ever do that to _this_ man." Then I was back to chastising myself for my shallow thoughts. Shouldn't I be outraged that she would prescribe that combination for anyone, good looks not withstanding?

I dug deeper, trying to find what condition these medications were supposed to treat, but there was nothing specific. Further down there was a note that he was to be kept 'non communicative', for his own safety. That raised all kinds of red flags; how could he be treated if he couldn't communicate?

And, no, I am not a conspiracy theorist...but hey, when something looks suspicious, I do notice.

His muttering pulled my attention back to him. His hands were grasping at air, straining against the straps around his wrists. Dropping his chart, I went to stand beside him, marveling that any level of consciousness was possible for him, given the combination of chemicals in his system. I laid my hand over his, and he immediately stilled and quieted, and then, after lacing his fingers with mine, lapsed into a near catatonic state. The strangest thing happened, though, where our hands were joined some sort of...well, I don't know how to describe it, except as an exchange of energy took place.

It was at that moment that I knew, my course was set.

This was not me, I never rebelled, I always kept with the program. Yet, despite the fact that this was going to be tricky, maybe impossible, the compulsion to know him, talk to him, have him in my life, was irresistible. Resistance was futile. I scoffed a bit at my internal rambling, what was I doing, channeling Captain Picard in his Borg state? But, whatever - not weaning Edward from those meds was not an option, and neither was not doing anything necessary to get him out of this place.

I stood there for several minutes, holding his hand and contemplating the situation. The most immediate problem was the night nurse, Alice. I would have to keep her from knowing something was up. Fortunately, none of his medication was administered during her shift.

For the next three days I did my best to be inconspicuous with my extra attention to him, but I had to make sure that when he was aware enough to respond, I was there to warn him to fake it. I estimated that I had two nights, but wanted to take no chances, so I went home the first day and got clothes to change into, and when my shift was over I hid out in my car in the back of the building. On the third night I waited to sneak back in until I was sure Alice was on her break and thoroughly distracted by her conversation with her boyfriend, Jasper.

I crept silently into his room, figuring I had about 30 minutes before Alice made her rounds. I wondered idly if I could hide in the closet 'til she was finished. I thought that might work. I took his hand and studied his sleeping countenance.

Suddenly, his eyes popped open wide, astonishing me with their clarity, and the intensity of his gaze into mine; it felt as though he had entered my brain. "I can't hear you," he whispered, desperation in his voice, and then he relaxed, closed his eyes and smiled. "I can't _hear_ you," he repeated, "but I can _feel_ you." He gripped my hand tighter, "What's your name?" he asked in a normal conversational tone, as though we had met at a party or something, and yes, his voice was as attractive as the rest of him.

"Bella," I supplied, too shocked to do anything else.

He continued smiling, and then he hummed, "Ummm, Bella...nice. Welcoming and warm. You like me!" His smile faded, and he opened his eyes, now regarding me with a frown. "You don't even know me. I'm crazy, dangerous to be around, too. You shouldn't be my friend, Bella."

His mood swings were giving me whiplash. I didn't care, my attraction to him wouldn't be denied, and I decided to just play along with the weirdness. I was wondering what the hell I'd gotten myself into, though. What was he talking about, he couldn't hear me, but he could feel me, and how did he know how I felt about him?

"But, I am your friend, Edward, and I'm going to help you," I promised, putting my questions aside for later.

"Maybe I don't want help, did ya ever think of that?" he spat, his frown deepening.

I let my bottom lip creep out, elated when his eyes softened, dropped to my mouth and lingered.

"Sorry," he said, softly, "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"It's OK, but Edward, you have to help me, too. Can you do that?"

"I just...I don't want...," he sighed and gave up, his eyes now on the ceiling. "What can I do to help you, Bella?"

"We have to keep it between just the two of us that you aren't taking your meds."

"Oh," he said, and then his eyes widened and he looked down at himself. "What...where am I, what's going on?"

"You are in the Redfern Psychiatric Hospital."

"On some kind of medication?"

"Yes, you've been on two anti-depressants, and two anti-psychotics.

"And, now I'm not?"

"Right."

"Because you stopped giving them to me?"

"Yes."

"How long have I been here?"

"This will be day three. What's the last thing you remember?"

"I was at Biodyne, working, and then the voices got so bad, I went back to Dr. Stanley, and she gave me a glass of water and some pills, and the voices went away, but so did everything else, and then I woke up here..." his rambling trailed off and he looked at me with panic in his face. "What day is it, the date, I mean?"

"The twelfth."

"Oh my god, I've lost a week! Wait, what month is it?"

"August."

He gasped, "No! That means I've lost a month!" He stared at the wall for a moment, his expression fierce. "Those bastards!" he said finally, his beautiful green eyes back on mine. "What did you say they were giving me?"

I told him.

"And, you took me off of them."

I couldn't tell from his tone what he thought of my decision to "help" him out. I could feel my face heating up. "Yes, kinda crazy, huh?"

"Yeah, kinda crazy wonderful!"

"Shh," I cautioned, "you have to hide that you are awake until I can figure out a way to get you out of here."

"Why would you do this? You know this can't end well, right?"

"You never know...anyway, I'm doing it. Listen, we don't have much time, Alice is the night nurse, and she can't know you're awake, so you're going to have to pretend to still be asleep when she comes to check on you. Can you do that?"

"I'll do it. Will I have to stay strapped down?"

"Only for tonight, tomorrow I'll unstrap you and you can get up for a while."

"That'll be good." He gave a small nod and a weak smile. I knew the idea of spending the night strapped down was difficult, but he took it bravely.

"I'm going to go, now, Edward, before Alice catches me in here."

He glanced at our still-joined hands, and after giving my fingers another gentle squeeze, he released me from his hold. "OK, goodnight, Bella. I'll see you in the morning."

I backed reluctantly toward the door, "Sleep well, I'll be here bright and early." I let my eyes sweep over him one last time before I left, committing as many details as possible to memory.

I made my way home to my apartment, my mind whirling with highly impractical plans for rescuing my beautiful mental patient. I knew I'd lost my mind, but I wasn't planning on trying to find it any time soon.

You know the old saying that what you don't know can't hurt you? Well, that's a big crock-o-shit. I didn't know they had chipped him, and it was going to hurt us. I _should_ have, I should have guessed that they would never stash someone like him in a minimum security facility like this without some kind of insurance. In my defense, I didn't know why they were hiding him, or what they planned to do with him. But anyway, so, yeah, they were monitoring the level of drugs in his system. Thank god it was intermittent, if they had been checking every day, well let's just say the story would have ended sooner.

When I walked into his room that next morning I was met with total panic on his face. "Bella! She knows, she's coming after you, you've got to get out of here! Now!"

"What are you talking about?"

He was almost incoherent in his fear, "The drugs...whatever they...it made me even worse, or better, depending on..., Bella, you've got to leave! I heard it in her mind, I heard what...for ...because you tried to help me, and I have this thing in the back of my neck, and it's sending signals..!"

Just then the intercom crackled and the nasal voice of the facility manager, Jane, cut him off.

"Bella, please come to my office."

A frisson of fright ran up my spine, standing the hair on my arm on end. "Edward, if we don't leave now, together, I won't be able to come back for you. Can you walk?"

He shook his head, "No, don't worry about me, you just need to get away, if she gets her hands on you, well, I don't think I could stand it!"

"I'm not leaving without you. Can you walk?"

It must have registered that I meant what I said, because he capitulated. "Alright, I'll walk, I'll run, I'll do whatever I have to, just...hurry!"

"OK, here are my keys," I said, pulling them from my pocket and putting them in his hand. "I'll make sure the coast is clear, and then you go to my car, it's in the back, a gray Suburban." I gave him directions on how to get out of the building as I unstrapped his wrists, and then left him to deal with his legs while I went to talk to Jane.

"Bella, what's going on?" she asked, when I strolled as casually as possible into her office. I must have pulled it off, she didn't seem to notice anything amiss. "I got a call this morning from Dr. Stanley, she's coming out here later this afternoon to check on her patient. She said something about his medication not being administered properly? Do you know what she's talking about?"

I feigned innocence, looking into her eyes and lying without compunction. "I have no idea, Jane. I've administered exactly what she prescribed."

She shook her head and tsked. "I knew there had to be some mistake, I told her you were my best nurse, and you'd been here 5 years with no complaints, ever, from anyone, patient or doctor. Honestly, I don't know what gets into these doctors sometimes. Anyway, I've changed her patient," she glanced down at the paperwork in front of her, "Edward," she flipped a few pages back and forth, "Hmm, that's strange, no last name." She gave up her search after another moment or two, shrugging it off. "Edward whatever his name is, I've changed his room assignment to Michael. I'll send Sam to move him later this morning. You'll have Mr. Pattinson, OK?"

"OK, whatever," I said, shrugging. "It's no skin off my nose. Was there anything else?"

"No, that's it, you can go get started on your rounds." She dismissed me with a wave, her attention already on to other matters.

"Will do, catch you later, Jane." I left her office at a leisurely pace, and then bolted down the hall as soon as the door closed behind me.

I almost had heart failure when I rounded the corner and saw Sam approaching Edward's room. I called out, stopping him in his tracks. He waited just outside the door as I sauntered toward him, swinging my hips a bit more than usual. I had his full attention. He did that lip licking thing again, and I repressed a shudder. He wasn't that bad looking, there was just something so smarmy about him.

"Hey, Bella baby, how you doin' today?"

"Hi Sam, I'm always good, you?"

"I bet you are!" he said, smirking. "Oh, say, I've been meaning to ask you, are you going to the company picnic next weekend?"

It was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do, but I repressed my revulsion and flirted shamelessly. I stepped closer and laid my hand on his chest, looking up at him through my lashes. His eyes glazed, and his mouth dropped open. Good grief, what would happen if I kissed him? He'd probably pass out. Maybe..., eww, no, I wouldn't do that unless I had no other recourse.

"Why do you ask, Sam?" I asked, circling a finger around the button on his uniform pocket. "Do you want me go with you?"

He shivered. "Yeah!" He gulped, and stepped closer. I pushed him back a little, snickering at the male ego; my change of heart after spending all this time rejecting his advances wasn't giving him a moments pause.

"I think that can be arranged," I simpered, "you wanna pick me up, or shall we meet there?"

"Oh, um, I guess we'd better meet there...I, ah..." I let him spin his wheels briefly, trying to come up with an excuse for not being seen at my house, and I spent about ten seconds feeling guilty for using him, and then I remembered Emily, with whom he had a long term thing. Nah, no guilt here, folks!

But, I finally took pity on him, I needed his unwitting help, after all. "No worries, Sam, maybe we can go somewhere after, you know, to be alone?"

"Oh, yeah, baby, that'd be great!" he breathed, almost hyperventilating in his eagerness.

"Yeah! Great, looking forward to it. Hey listen, could I get you to do me a big favor?"

"Anything, what do you need, Bella baby?" Ugh! If I never heard that name again it would be too soon!

"You're going to be moving my patient out, and one of Mike's in, right?"

He nodded, "Yeah, I'm here to get him all unhooked and ready to take over there." He leaned in to...what the hell, he was sniffing my hair?

I resisted the urge to back away and continued, "That's what I thought. See, I've never had one of my patients taken away like this, and well, it's kind of a matter of professional pride, you know? I need about twenty or thirty minutes to make sure I have him all ready, so Mike doesn't think he's better than me. Can you give me little while before you take him over there?" I circled the button on his other pocket, batted my eyelashes, and just for good measure, bit my bottom lip at him. He didn't even put a fight.

"Sure, Bella, not a problem at all, I totally understand! I'll go get Mike's patient ready, first. I'll be back in thirty minutes."

He set off down the hall, whistling and swinging his key chain, and I ducked into the room, sighing with relief when I found it empty.

* * *

I won't bore you with the details of our escape, but that was six weeks ago, and we're still on the lamb, to use the vernacular. The source of our problem, in a nutshell, is Edward's mind reading. Of course, that's also how we've been able to stay one step ahead of our enemies, but I know we're living on borrowed time.

The project that he was working on for Biodyne has moved forward, those computers are going on the market next year. See, they have incorporated brain tissue into the processors, and let's just say that doesn't make for happy computers, or comfortable computing for a mind reader. The source of that tissue is really too unpleasant to think about, but Edward does, he can't let it go.

The scariest part of all this is that we're not sure who we're hiding from, or what they want from him. Dr. Stanley is the one who put him in Redfern, but we don't know her motive. Was she working for Biodyne, or an individual at Biodyne? Or some combination of the alphabet associated with the government, or is it all of the above?

Edward would end himself before he'd let them use him, and I'd end anybody I had to, to keep that from happening. Thankfully, so far we haven't had to do anything too far over the legal line, but both of us know the odds are against us.

It probably seems like I'm the crazy one for running with him like that, leaving my comfortable life behind for someone I'd just met, and yet, I've never, not for one second, regretted my decision to help him. And I won't, no matter how all this turns out. I'd rather die with him, than live without him.

I knew what I was giving up, but, at the time, I didn't know what I'd be gaining, because I didn't know Edward. Now, I do. Now, I know how supple and soft and warm his lips are, and how sweet like apples his kisses are. I know how funny and smart and kind he is. And then, remember that little exchange of energy thing that happens when we touch? Let me tell you, that's a reward _all_ by itself. Every. Single. Time!

So, yeah, I took a huge risk, but the rewards...ah, the rewards...those just keep on coming, and they make this whole crazy ride worthwhile.

* * *

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